The Bridge on the River Kwai
It spans a whole new world of entertainment!
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors.British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col.Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
- Director
- David Lean
- Signature
- Craft · Drama · Action
- Worldwide
- $45M
Who's in it
Cast
The billed ensemble, with character names. Open any performer for their Nutevio filmography.
The Nutevio profile
Movie DNA
How The Bridge on the River Kwai actually feels to watch, measured on the twelve traits our editors track across every Nutevio title.
Story overview
What It's About
Spoiler-free. Read the analysis below for the full argument.
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
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The record
Awards
9 wins · 8 nominations
Academy Awards
7 wins · 8 nominations
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Actor
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Cinematography
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Director
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Film Editing
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Picture
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Score, Adaptation or Treatment
- WinnerAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Film
1 win
- WinnerNational Board of Review Award for Best Film
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
1 win
- WinnerNational Board of Review: Top Ten Films
The numbers
Box Office & Release
The Bridge on the River Kwai returned 16.0× its budget worldwide.
- Budget
- $3M
- Opening weekend
- —
- Domestic gross
- —
- International gross
- —
- Worldwide gross
- $45M
- Release date
- Oct 11, 1957
- Runtime
- 2h 42m
- MPAA rating
- —
- Language
- English, Japanese
- Country
- United Kingdom
Figures from the verified production record. Fields we cannot source are left blank rather than estimated.
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